a flight and passengers have to stop him from trying to get into the cockpit. good afternoon. i'm pat lawson muse. >> i'm jim handly. more on that in a bit but first get ready for more rain, folks. the potential for severe weather is here. >> storm 4 meteorologist veronica johnson is in the storm center with details. veronica? >> there will be some neighborhoods getting some moderate and even brief heavy rain and hearing a lot of thunder, too. already this afternoon we've had a handful of severe thunderstorm warnings and look at all of this area shaded in pink. that is where there is a severe thunderstorm watch right now. that is until 9:00 p.m. for winchester, la ray, down toward charlottesville and off to the west. we've even had a handful of severe thunderstorm warnings with an elevated risk where the storms have been producing high winds. as far as what's going on right now a little closer inspection for you. fauquier county down through culpepper moderate to heavy rain. anywhere from a quick 0.1 to 0.25 inch of rain in that one

cell in fauquier county moving east-southeast toward areas of brentsville in the next 48 and 56 minutes and into erly within the next three minutes potentially producing very heavy rain. we've seen a lot of lightning, reports of one-inch hail in west virginia and even gusts of 40 miles per hour which some of these individual cells. just showers south and east of kettering moving through prince george's county toward diehl and sunderland right now. boy oh, boy a big range in temperatures. up to the north where that rain has been 61 in frederick, maryland. 80 degrees down south in fredericksburg, virginia. huge range. everybody is going to be i think cooling off, though, tonight. there is a look at your good night forecast. 9:00, 68 to 65 by 11:00 p.m. and expect the wind to stay up, too. so breezy for the evening. we'll talk more about tomorrow's forecast and of course i'll keep you updated throughout the 4:00 show on any more severe thunderstorm warnings. back to you.

>> all right. wild weather night. thanks, veronica. a jetblue pilot has been suspended after a mid air meltdown. cell phone video caught the pilot screaming about a bomb minutes after he was locked out of the cockpit because of his erratic behavior. >> he had been pushing buttons and trying to steer the plane. passengers had to pin him down while the flight made an emergency landing. nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: a frantic struggle at 35,000 feet. >> as a passenger and in the first few rows, it was surreal to see this happening. >> reporter: the pilot of a jet blue flight from new york to las vegas out of control. >> he came running down the aisle and was screaming, afghanistan, there's a bomb, you know, i got to get in the cockpit. then he started banging on the cockpit door. >> that is when at least a half dozen passengers jumped in. >> i ran up and we were face to face me and the captain, wrestled a little bit, and i got

him turned around and then other passengers jumped on. we all got on top of him. >> reporter: it apparently started inside the cockpit when the captain veered from the flight plan, eflipping switches and calling on the radio. his flight partner persuaded him to go to the bathroom. when he did they locked the cockpit door and someone else took his place. >> the copilot is the hero. he persuaded the captain out of the cockpit. that completely averted what could have been a tragedy yesterday. >> reporter: that copilot then diverted the plane to amarillo, texas. >> jet blue 191 emergency and we're going to need authorities and medical to meet us at the airplane. >> reporter: osmond was removed from the plane in restraints. he remains in fbi custody and is being treated by doctors. 13 hours after takeoff the flight eventually did make it to las vegas. >> couldn't be better. back on the ground.

happy. and i don't know. just happy to be on the ground. >> reporter: after a bizarre and frightening flight. jay gray, nbc news. there was also an incident aboard a u.s. airways flight last night. an nbc reporter on vacation in ft. myers, florida took these pictures. a woman from new jersey was arrested after she attacked a crew member on her flight from charlotte. a reporter spoke to the crew. they said the woman kicked, scratched, and spit on another crew member. a florida sheriff's deputy aboard the flight restrained the woman until the flight landed. witnesses say the woman mentioned being afraid of flying shortly before the outburst. a congressman was escorted off the floor of the house of representatives this morning because he put on a hoodie in support of trayvon martin the florida teen shot by a community watch volunteer last month. representative bobby rush, an illinois democrat, removed his jacket and put on the hood of a sweatshirt he was wearing underneath. the speaker told rush he was out

of order for violating house rules. >> racial profiling has to stop, mr. speaker. just because someone wears a hoody does not make them a hoodlum. >> the chair will ask the sergeant at arms to enforce the prohibition on decor. >> the rule prohibits wearing hats in the chamber when the house is in session. the speaker determined the hoody fell under that rule. a riverdale man is safe today after a scary situation overnight. two men grabbed him and forced him to take a drive to an atm and withdraw money. the abduction happened outside a home on 59th avenue here in riverdale. police were at the house when the kidnappers dropped the victim back at the home. the two gunmen fired at officers. police arrested one and the other ran away. no officers were hurt. the fate of the nation's

health care law now rests in the hands of the nine justices of the supreme court. a third day of oral arguments wrapped up about two hours ago. steve handelsman has the latest from the high court. >> this is about freedom of choice. >> reporter: the big debate continued outside. >> so they're going to decide -- >> reporter: inside the nine justices focused on a narrow issue. if they throw out the mandate that requires americans to buy health insurance, should they throw out all of obama health care? the guarantee that everyone is covered, no lifetime dollar limits, the free birth control, the lawyer for states opposed to obama care argued yes. >> if the individual mandate is unconstitutional then the rest of the act cannot stand. >> reporter: conservatives agree, no way to figure out what is constitutional. >> is this not totally unrealistic that we're going to go through this enormous bill item by item? >> should be easy for justice

scalia's clerks. >> i don't care whether it's easy for my clerks. i care whether it's easy for me. >> with more people to cover. >> that's going to bankrupt the insurance companies. >> to impose a risk on insurance companies the congress never intended. >> and with anthony kennedy a majority does throw out td band dade liberals hope obama health care survives. >> the more conservative approach would be salvage rather than throwing out everything. >> is half a loaf better than no loaf? >> reporter: obama care backers say yes. >> we work a whole lot, pay taxes, follow the rules for decades. all we want to get is the care we need. >> repeal obama care! >> reporter: but opponents claim they smell a supreme court win. now the justices read all the

written arguments. they confer among themselves and they render their opinion in mid summer. i'm steve handelsman, news 4 at the supreme court. former president george herbert walker bush plans to formally endorse mitt romney and is expected to make an appearance with him tomorrow in houston. the former president's wife has already endorsed romney. barbara bush endorsed robocalls for him during the ohio primary. one of the bush sons former florida governor jeb bush endorsed romney last week. the endorsements are another sign that the party is ewing behind romney's campaign while pressure builds on challengers rick santorum and newt gingrich to drop out. but both those candidates insist they are not leaving the race before the convention in late august. newt gingri newt gingrich is reorganizing his staff in an effort to save some money. he just laid off about one-third of his staff and is replacing his campaign manager. gingrich is campaigning in our area tonight and is expected to speak to students at georgetown university in just about an

hour. texas congressman ron paul will attend a town hall meeting at the university of maryland in college park tonight. paul is in last place in the delegate count. republicans hold the maryland primary april 3rd. pope benedict xvi is wrapping up his historic trip to cuba today. the pontiff spent three days in the island country in a closed door meeting today the pope met with former cuban leader fidel castro urging greater freedom for the catholic church. andrea mitchell has more from havana. >> reporter: with great excitement on this historic day in havana pope benedict xvi is holding his mass in revolution square. hundreds of thousands of people are attending. this is a holy day, religious day, but also a great celebration, the second papal visit in 14 years. in a 40-minute meeting with reuel castro, cuba's president last night, the pope made one request. that is to make good friday a holiday, an official government holiday as christmas now is.

that is one of the reforms that has followed the last papal visit 14 years ago from john paul ii as the catholic church rises in influence here but still very carefully. we expect today that the pope will not be raising political issues in a very confrontational way, just gently reminding the cuban government that he would like to see reforms. the government officials said yesterday that there will be no political reform here in havana in cuba while they work on their primary mission, which is economic reform. andrea mitchell, nbc news, havana. an arrest today in vermont. 33-year-old melissa jenkins was a science teacher at the prestigious st. john's berry academy. she was also a single mom. on saturday her suv with her 2-year-old inside was found idling along the side of a road. her body was found 24 hours later. today police arrested a husband and wife who once shoveled snow

from jenkins driveway and charged them with her murder. her small community is still reeling from the news. >> way too soon for a life tofr end in such a brutal way. full communities are saddened. it's horrible. >> police say jenkins was strangled to death and the couple are charged with second-degree murder but could face additional charges. when news 4 at 4:00 continues actress alicia silverstone is making national headlines after posting video online of how she feeds her baby. christy brinkley had her turn yesterday. now it is her ex-husband's turn to tell his side of their bitter battle. plus, you could soon get a lot more prescription medication over the counter. dr. jaqui joins us next to

don't feel too bad about not winning the megamillions jackpot last night. no one else did either. now the multi state lottery prize is the largest jackpot ever. get this. a record $500 million. the drawing for that prize will be held on friday. the jackpot's been growing since january 24th. that's the last time someone matched all six numbers.

there were 47 people who came close last night. they matched five of the six. each of those tickets is worth about $250,000. not bad. alicia silverstone is facing criticism about her parenting style all over a video that shows her spitting food from her mouth into her son's mouth. the actress posted this video on youtube showing a meal with her 10-month-old son. his name is bear and she feeds him like a bird chewing up some vegetables from her soup then spitting them into her son's mouth. on the "today" show today dr. nancy snyderman says this technique could make kids sick. >> certainly no health benefits for this. a couple down sides. there is nothing dirtier than the human mouth so forget the ik factor of pushing up food. there is nothing very good about the viruses and bacteria that live in an adult mouth and a child's immune system may not be ready for those. >> but it is so appetizing to watch. dr. snyderman also said the technique could make it tougher

for toddlers to learn to feed themselves. well, the public wore of words between model/actress christy brinkley and her ex-husband peter cook took another turn today. cook and brinkley settled a bitter divorce four years ago but a judge ordered them to be civil. he said he would fine them for saying nasty things about one another. brinkley says he has violated that order several times and broke down in tears yesterday on the "today" show. cook appeared on "today" this morning and said brinkley's behavior was in his words a cunning and shameless attempt to garner public sympathy. >> i'm not bullying her, i am not harassing her. christy brinkley sitting there crying telling the world this horrible life she lives, i haven't had contact with the woman for over two years by e-mail and four and a half years by voice. how am i harassing her? >> reporter: earlier this month it was disclosed that cook called his former wife in his words a narcissistic ego maniac in a court filing. brinkley and cook have a

16-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. too little sleep may take a toll on your health but too much sleep isn't going to do you any good either. that's the finding of a new study by doctors at the chicago medical school. they found people who get less than six hours of sleep a night are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack and 70% more likely to have congestive heart failure. they also found people who sleep more than eight hours have a greater risk of heart disease. the doctors say six to eight hours of sleep a night is optimal for most people. changes may be coming to the way you get your medicine. the food and drug administration is considering making more medicines available without a prescription and giving patients greater access to medicines without a visit to the doctor. joining us is dr. jackie with family allergy and asthma care in gaithersburg. dr. jackie, on the surface, you know, this sounds like a good thing, a convenient thing but before we get into the nuts and

bolts tell us how the system works. >> right now there are three categories of medication. there is the one that you know well which are the prescription medications. you have to see a doctor and have a visit with the doctor. over the counter medications where you take a stroll down the aisle and decide what medications you want. and then behind the counter where you need to eyeball the pharmacist and have a little chat about the medications. usually you have to be over 18 to pick those up. in that category there are some examples we could use to further illustrate in the allergy category, things like a nasal spray where again you've got to see a doctor because of concerns about the side effects. over the counter you go down the aisle and possibly pick out an antihistamine and then behind the counter would be a medication like sudafed which is pseudo ephedrine or if you break the words down that would be fake adrenalin. something that gets you pumped up so hence you have to be careful about the use or abuse of it. >> now the fda has just conducted a hearing. what is the fda proposing? >> the way they put this is it is a fourth category or new paradigm. what they're looking to do

technically is change prescriptions from prescription medicine to over the counter and that would be under the conditions of what they're calling safe use where a pharmacist would get involved to possibly screen or counsel or assess a patient. >> why is the fda proposing this now? >> they've got a couple reasons but primarily there is a significant number of prescriptions not filled and the thought is if there is wider access to those medications maybe they'll get filled. >> what kinds of medications are they thinking about changing and putting into this category? >> high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraines, diabetes, and the one i care about which is asthma. >> ah, okay. and then you think it's a good idea? >> actually i don't think it is a good idea but very scary for what i do which is take care of patients with asthma. it is a scary business. asthma is a chronic disease. it has 11 deaths per day. so when you put those medications into the hands of patients they could over use and use the wrong medications. for example, the rescue inhaler

ail butt aluterol. you shouldn't use more than one canister a year. if you let people have limited access i'm afraid you'll get more deaths because you're not being monitored for that disease. pharmacists have a mixed bag. one is they are worried they won't have enough time to go through and screen the patients and work with these patients and secondly they need to have access to the full medical record of a patient. i think we need to recognize already that pharmacists are very involved in patient care. >> pretty busy. >> they're busy as it is just filling the prescriptions and working with insurance companies but they do an awful lot in terms of showing patients how to use let's say inhalers. when is the correct use of the medication? they're already involved. but this would put them in the front lines. >> are patient advocacy groups weighing in on this at all? >> they are and there again weighing in on both sides. there are certainly patients in groups that would say i finally get to have better control over my own health care. they are very informed.

where people are getting quite concerned is over the coverage, when you put these over the counter are you going to be able to maintain that relationship with your doctor? are you going to be covered if you go see your doctor for these kinds of prescriptions? and then lastly if you look at how this has played out before is every time a medication goes over the counter it ends up costing the patient more. the patients that have insurance more. because it's not covered under their pharmacy plan. their out of pocket costs are higher. it's mixed bag. >> all right. >> again, it's just under study so far. >> all right. dr. jackie, thanks. >> thank you. >> jim? up next on news 4 at 4:00, we'll look at the booming business of pawn shops. plus wonder woman linda carter is getting ready for a new show. i was paying too much with cable. paying so much, you want better quality. it just got more frustrating and frustrating. for the amount of money that i'm paying, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. get verizon fios tv, internet and phone

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well, veronica, we have some storms and a little lightning out there? >> a little lightning out there still. earlier, about an hour ago there was a lot of lightning so now the storms are starting to at least pipe down a little bit. and the severe warnings west of the area around the blue ridge.

waiting to see if we'll have any warnings around the immediate area. 66 in gaithersburg more like our high temperatures tomorrow. we'll be cooling down behind this weather system. in fact, 63 up in frederick. look at the 80-degree temperature still down in fredericksburg, virginia. 20-degree temperature range almost. and again it has been plenty wet up here. the pink is the severe thunderstorm watch that goes until 9:00 p.m. for winchester, la ray, charlottesville and areas back to the west that includes kentucky. it's right along this weather front, this cold front that a lot of storms have been firing mainly west virginia, kentucky, and there have been reports of some inch-sized hail coming out of west virginia. closer inspection here you can see moderate rain just south of d.c. moderate rain, too, around hartwood sliding toward fredericksburg so you can get a quick 0.1 to 0.25 inch of rain. the other thing with this system we could see not only hail but we could see the winds increase up to 40 miles per hour.

already those winds have been up to 35-mile-per-hour gusts in charleston, west virginia. 36 in roanoke. 32 in state college. even though the winds will settle some tonight it's still going to be breezy as we go into the day tomorrow. right now there is a look at the weather front coming through the area. by the time we get to tomorrow we'll be well on the other side of this front, getting the sunshine in here. partly sunny skies. but again, breezy. then by the end of the week we have rain to talk about again. there will be a front moving back and that means the potential for more rain coming into our area late friday night and for saturday. then saturday is going to be more of a setup with north to northeasterly wind so could keep temperatures pretty low again as was the case last saturday. so for your evening we're mostly cloudy, some showers, storms. those will be moving out i think by around 8:00 or 9:00. these individual cells are moving out about 40 to 70 miles per hour and the whole front slowing down but should be out of here by about that time. 62 to 68 degrees your wind out of the southwest at 15 to 20

miles per hour. again, still breezy for tomorrow morning. while we are going to be cooling down at 47 to 52 that's still really mild for this time of year. so mostly clear start to the day tomorrow. a few clouds coming into the area. breezy and mild but again no 70s or 80s for tomorrow. we'll be at a range of about 61 to 66 degrees. here's a look at your four-day forecast for tomorrow. the high 64. friday the high 65. for saturday 65, too. again, a little cooler than what we've seen. 68 degrees for sunday. so right now your wet day this weekend is saturday. again, severe thunderstorm watch that covers a good part of the area, winchester down toward charlottesville until 9:00 p.m. so any warnings and i'll get back on. >> all right. a busy one. >> thanks. still to come on news 4 at 4:00 justin bieber's tweet has gotten him into a little bit of trouble. why one family's phone just keeps on ringing. plus outrage today after the

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[ female announcer ] so portion and freeze with ease, with new perfect portions from ziploc. sc johnson. a family company. and welcome back, everyone. at 4:30 i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. here's what's happening in the news at this hour. jet blue has suspended the pilot

whose meltdown forced an emergency landing yesterday. this video shows the commotion onboard the flight from new york to las vegas. the pilot was yelling and acting erratically. passengers restrained him until the plane made an emergency landing in amarillo, texas. jet blue blames this on a medical situation. the fate of the nation's health care law now rests with the nine justices on the u.s. supreme court. three days of oral arguments concluded this afternoon. a decision is expected in june. a congressman was escorted off the floor of the house of representatives for wearing a hoody today. democratic representative bobby rush of illinois was speaking on the floor when he removed his dress jacket and put on the hood of a sweatshirt he was wearing underneath. the speaker admonished members about the rules against wearing hats when the house is in session. and it's a second day of declines for the market led by a drop in energy and industrial stocks. the dow losing about 71 points to close at 13,126. the nasdaq is off by 15 and the

s&p is down about seven points. talk about a wrong number. 18 million of justin bieber's twitter followers got a tweet from the superstar telling them to, quote, call him right now. >> yeah. hundreds of thousands of phone calls indeed came in but to a couple's home in texas. turns out bieber tweeted an incomplete number and that tweet could lead to a lawsuit. >> reporter: kent doesn't mind getting phone calls. but these have gone overboard. >> i picked it up and i put it down and picked it up and put it down and it kept ringing. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of callers all looking for one person. >> they said justin bieber? i said, no. >> reporter: justin bieber's 18 million plus twitter followers started calling kent after the pop star tweeted a random 214

area code number. but with a final digit missing. the tweet said call me right now. >> i have a justin bieber fan line and i had to not answer the phone for three weeks. >> reporter: bieber deleted the tweet but the damage was done for two dallas area residents including kent. now kent and his lawyer emily horton are considering legal action as a last resort. >> well, i think it was a very reckless thing to do of justin bieber to put anyone's phone number to call. >> reporter: horton said she finally got in contact with justin bieber's record label last week but they said they had no comment. >> it's just taken my whole phone line away from me. i've had the phone for 20 1/2 years. >> sure if it was an accident or anything else we have no explanation at this time. that's one of the things my clients are seeking is an explanation and apology for what it has done to their lives. >> reporter: kent hopes a tweet back from bieber might be a good start. >> now this isn't the first time there's been an issue involving

a tweet from bieber. in august of 2010, bieber tweeted a michigan teen's phone number. that teenager reportedly hacked a facebook page of bieber's friend to get the pop star's cell phone number. the woman made famous for her role as wonder woman stopped by our studios today. linda carter wasn't talking about acting though. the '70s phenomenon is returning to the kennedy center stage on friday to sing. her body and soul show will feature tracks from her latest albums as well as new tunes. >> it's everything from, you know, jazz and some old rock 'n' roll and it's just a wide variety of music and we sort of put our own, because of the quality of the musicians we put our own spin on just about everything. >> as far as her acting career is concerned, carter says she has been offered roles in the last several months but hasn't been able to take them because of her body and soul tour. tickets by the way are still on

sale. two of the world's biggest sneaker companies are going at it over one of the nfl's biggest stars. nike is suing reebock for using quarterback tim tebow's name on new york jets related apparel. the lawsuit was filed in federal court in new york city today. nike says reebock is trying to cash in on tebow mania but doesn't have the right to do so. it says it's the only company authorized to use tebow's name on football products. nike is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. now to something that's sad to say. a special statue has gone away. it's a statue that sat on the estate of the late theodore gazelle, also known as dr. seuss. someone managed to swipe this two-foot-tall bronze figure of his character the lorax. even though it weighs about 300 pounds dr. seuss's widow discovered it was missing from their garden in california on monday. his step daughter the artist who actually made the sculptor is

pleading for its safe return. it is valued at $10,000. >> we hope they get it back. up next on news 4 at 4:00 local dancers get a chance to show off for a famous producer. also meet the 82-year-old grandmother who refused to let a [ male announcer ] for making cupcakes and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend back for lunch from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. for making your financial life a little bit easier.

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some people like to keep little mementos of the places they've been and now there's an app that will help you track your memories of your favorite places. >> here is news 4's angie goff with our app of the day. oh, the places you'll go. if dr. seuss had an app then it would be it. here as map and a small icon and that is because we just started using it. but really this is a way to bookmark the places that you've been at. the places that you visited and the places where you want to go. you could save some of your favorite locations. for instance, i saved this one of the news 4 today studio b and also if you wanted to get here and you were following my feed on this iphone app you would be able to get directions to the studio and also have the

opportunity to share it via your social networking sites. and most importantly, you are able to share your different recommendations, for instance, if you wanted to come by my desk and visit my candy bowl if you were over at news 4 you'd be able to do that and i'd be able to share that with you. so really this is just one more way for places like food, art shows, nature trails, picnic places, music rooms, a way for them to connect with their consumer. and then you can keep track of it all with your very own minus the misspelling of my last name. i'm angie goff but you have your own profile here that keeps a collection of your places, your cities, and allows you to also share that through your social networking site. so upload it today. it's absolutely free. while online don't forget to check out our nbc 4 iphone and stay up to date on the latest news, weather, and traffic. >> all right. >> pretty cool. when we come right back on

news 4 at 4:00 facing few options why many people are turning to pawn shops when their savings run out. and dancers in d.c. get to perform

dance students in the washington region competed for the chance of a lifetime today. they auditioned to be part of a new dance company which will be

chronicled on a new show called chance to dance. the show travels the country searching for the best talent. in just a month the dancers will get ready for a charity show that will be performed in new york. the show's executive producer simon lithgow says some classical training is needed. >> they have to be able to move together and think together. the thing about a company dance is they end up acting as one. unless you have the classical background be it jazz, tap, modern, ballet, you won't be able to be part this of company. >> former london royal ballet dancers michael nun and william trevit are also the stars of the show. lithgow gained fame for his role on the hit show "so you think you can dance." i think veronica has been doing a rain dance today. a little bit? >> a rain dance and west of us is where most of the storms have been. so for us i still think we could get moderate rain, heavy rain. we could get a little lightning but i don't think it will be anything like areas west of

i-81. let's take a look at it here. the severe thunderstorm watch is up until 9:00 p.m. for all the counties shatded in pink. winchester down toward la ray. charlottesville and off to the west inside of west virginia and it goes all the way back toward kentucky. let's talk about where some of the moderate and even a little bit of heavy rain is right now. you can see it there on our storm 4 radar. areas shaded in yellow. right around the beach and dahlgren area and this is making its way south-southeastward. so areas around stafford county getting some moderate rain. to the north we just have showers now inside of the beltway. i-29, radic road, a wet drive here for the evening rush. meanwhile your good night wake up forecast the storms will hold on until 7:00 p.m. we'll see winds dmin bish tomorrow morning it is going to be breezy. around 30 miles per hour by morning. sun is up by 6:57.

temperatures north 47 in frederick. 49 culpepper. 51 to start out in fredericksburg, virginia. we clear out this evening. we'll see some sunshine tomorrow. you know that tomorrow we're not going to have temperatures into the 70s. into the 60s is where we're going to be so you might need a light jacket starting out early tomorrow morning. then for friday, another fairly nice day. but with clouds on the increase. by the time we get to the afternoon, late afternoon, evening hours those clouds will thicken up and lower and by late 11:00 p.m. a chance for a little bit in the way of some rain coming into the area. then a lot of rain for friday night going into saturday morning. saturday is looking wet as well. here is a look at your four-day forecast for tomorrow. temperatures will get into the 60s. 64 to 65 degrees in fact. not just tomorrow but for friday and for saturday. close to 70 degrees on sunday. that will be after the rain. so we're wet for half the weekend right now. temperature could spike to around 08 degrees on monday. what does that mean? we continue with the up-and-down

rollercoaster, right, like we were this past winter. and now here for the spring. one day 60 one day 80. >> we're getting used to it. >> i know. >> keeping coats handy. okay. thanks a lot. the troubled economy has made it harder than ever for small business owners and other people to get loans. >> more and more pawn shops are playing a role now long held by neighborhood banks. rock center's kate snow has our report. >> reporter: todd hills has an interesting view of today's economy. for 25 years he has been a pawn broker. >> the banks are locked up. you know, the neon light that says open at the bank is not. >> reporter: this was your first pawn shop right? >> yeah. >> reporter: that's where hills steps in. he's filled a void with the credit market so tight and many in the middle class being forced to put up their possessions as collateral for a loan. because they can no longer rely on banks for cash. hills' online pawn shop called pawn-go is always open. he charges up to 6% interest a

month. everything in the pawn-go vault has a story behind it. in a package that came from a woman in maine, these pearls. >> those are nice. >> to learn what could have happened in amy's life that forced her to pawn such valuable pearls and risk losing them we went to maine. >> nice to meet you, kate. >> reporter: thanks for inviting us. it turns out aimy and her fiance lenny are pawning her pearls for money to start a daycare center. when you got to that point and needed money and wanted to invest in the daycare center why not max out a credit card? >> we cut them all up and got rid of them. >> reporter: you had no more credit cards. >> we don't have a single credit card. >> why not go to a bank locally and ask for a loan? >> well, because technically we're unemployed right now. >> reporter: so this was really a last resort. >> yeah. >> you can catch kate's full report on the changing role of pawn shops on rock center with brian williams tonight at 10:00.

a sign of the times there. >> tough times for a lot of people. coming up on news 4 you probably heard of birch beer but what about birch champagne? we'll have details. plus how three exotic birds escaped a zoo. and i'm wender rieger. coming up on news 4 at 5:00 businesses along the georgetown waterfront are ready to reopen nearly a year after serious flood damage. if you caught hunger games fever now is your chance to train like a tribute. details behind the new fitness craze is tonight's "what's your workout?" and coming up on news 4 at 6:00 a lot of local governments are dealing with budget cuts but some d.c. city council members are taking a pay raise. see you

at a vineyard they turn grapes into wine but one man is using birch trees to make his bubbly. he collects sap from his several hundred birch trees. each tree is able to produce about a gallon or two of the sap and from that he creates wine and sparkling wine. this year he hopes to make more than 3100 gallons of sparkling wine. it has become pretty popular in latvia. he hopes to have enough to sell overseas this year. >> can you pour them on pancakes like syrup? three exotic birds are missing from the honolulu zoo today and officials believe van der linden always a-- vandals a

blame. someone broke into the zoo and cut holes in 24 bird cages either early tuesday or late monday night. the missing birds include a rare parrot and a rare dove. temporary patches have now been placed on the cages to prevent any other birds from flying off. still ahead on news 4 at 4:00 a grandmother in her 80s takes the law into her own hands. for all your news be sure to follow us on news 4 online. just search nbc washington on facebook and twitter.

most 80-year-olds wouldn't be much of a match for a purse snatcher but most 80-year-olds are not sylvia miller. the woman you are about to meet wasn't going to let a crook ruin her day. >> okay. i go down like this. >> reporter: sylvia miller is 82 but this granny is not ready for the rocking chair. >> my husband used to say i feel like tying her to a tree. >> reporter: it's true there is no stopping sylvia. she works out daily. she seals and stains her own deck. sylvia does all the house maintenance including car upkeep. >> i carry the 50-pound bags of mulch and all of that. something wrong with me? >> reporter: it's no surprise

last wednesday sylvia was at walmart picking up grass seed and penetrating oil. she noticed three women following her in the garden center then out to her car. one snatched her purse from behind. now you know sylvia. so if someone steals her purse and takes off running then you know it's on. the hot pursuit began in walmart's parking lot. through the scrub brush and briars. through the field to the highway to this water drain where the victim gave up and gave sylvia her purse back. it wasn't so much what was in the purse. >> i had a little bit over a hundred dollars in there my son had just given me and all my credit cards. >> reporter: it was the principle. >> i wasn't afraid one bit. i didn't even think about it. i thought you're not getting away with it. >> reporter: it is not likely sylvia set the suspect on the path of good behavior. >> this is my bike. >> reporter: but perhaps she'll think twice before picking on a

woman 50 plus years her senior. >> obviously police would not advise you to do this. in all the confusion the suspects got away. mansfield, ohio police are still looking for them this afternoon. that's news 4 at 4:00. news 4 at 5:00 starts right now. two big stories off the top tonight. a tsa agent at dulles busted, accused of running a prostitution ring out of a local hotel. >> but first we are on storm watch as rain and lightning rolling through parts of our region. good evening. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly. let's get to doug who is tracking the storm for us. >> watching these thunderstorms right now on storm 4 radar you can see where they are down to the south. much of the thunder and lightning now starting to really weaken. this was the strongest storm that came through la ray a little bit earlier. a little bit of hail back to the west. but as it made its way through the east toward culpepper county

we saw a lot of lightning and then it really started to weaken. just some thunder. a little lightning and heavy rain in toward portions of southern maryland. you can see what i'm talking about here down around the alan's fresh area. in through portions of st. mary's county and then down toward the leonard town area. that's the heaviest storm. you can see right along 301 from waldorf right on down through alan's fresh and colonial beach seeing some of that weather. back toward warranton more showers. notice on here we have lightning on the map. we have turned the lightning on. there is no lightning here. we're not seeing any lightning or thunder out of these storms around warranton or the manassas area. we will continue to see the light to moderate rain, though, throughout the rest of the evening in many parts of the area. out there right now still quite nice. 70 degrees under partly cloudy to mostly cloudy skies. after the showers move through, a lot of us are seeing some sunshine but there are more showers and storms to come. we'll talk about those in just a few minutes. >> all right. thanks, doug. a suspicious hotel manager helped police uncover a prostitution ring being run in one ofis